Toronto: A Canadian court has sentenced a contract killer, who is already serving a life sentence for the murder of a former suspect in the 1985 Air India Flight 182 (Kanishka) bombing case, to an additional 15 years in prison in a separate fatal shooting case.
Tanner Fox, 25, was handed the sentence on Wednesday after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Chad Colivas, 41, of Abbotsford, British Columbia. The sentencing relates to a shooting that took place months before Fox murdered Sikh businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik, according to a report by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Guilty plea in 2022 fatal shooting
Police said Chad Colivas was found with gunshot wounds at his residence on March 21, 2022. Despite medical attention, he later succumbed to his injuries.
Fox was arrested in 2023 along with 30-year-old Laetitia Acera in connection with the case. While Fox pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a firearm in April this year, Acera admitted guilt to charges of break and enter.
The court sentenced Acera to four years in prison, followed by two years of probation. Fox, meanwhile, received an additional 15-year prison term for the manslaughter conviction.
Convicted in Ripudaman Singh Malik murder
Less than four months after Colivas’ death, Fox shot and killed Sikh businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik on July 14, 2022. Malik was sitting inside his Tesla at a business park in Surrey, British Columbia, when he was fatally shot.
Fox later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the high-profile killing.
In 2025, a Canadian court sentenced him to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 20 years for Malik’s murder. During the sentencing, Fox told the court he had been “young and dumb” when he carried out the contract killing.
Canadian investigators have not publicly identified the person or persons believed to have hired Fox to assassinate Malik.
Malik’s connection to Air India bombing case
Ripudaman Singh Malik was one of the principal accused in the 1985 Air India Flight 182, also known as the Kanishka bombing, one of the deadliest acts of aviation terrorism in history.
The bombing claimed the lives of all 329 people on board, including 268 Canadians, 27 British citizens and 22 Indians, after the aircraft exploded over the Atlantic Ocean.
Malik and co-accused Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted by a Canadian court in 2005 after it ruled there was insufficient evidence to convict them in the bombing case.
Inderjit Singh Reyat, who admitted to assembling the bombs used in the attack, remains the only person convicted in connection with the bombing. He was released from prison in 2016 after serving nearly two-thirds of his sentence.
Separate sentence adds to prison term
The latest 15-year sentence relates solely to the manslaughter of Chad Colivas and is separate from Fox’s existing life sentence for Malik’s murder.
The case highlights the continuing legal proceedings involving one of Canada’s most notorious contract killers, whose crimes have been linked to two separate high-profile homicide cases.